


Like You A Latte

by Demerite



Series: Trektober 2019 [12]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, Philippa is an excellent wingman, Pre-Relationship, Section 31 is a coffee shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-13 16:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21001022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demerite/pseuds/Demerite
Summary: When Ash gets into work the next day, there's a note taped to the inside of the door of the staff bathroom reminding employees about refraining from unprofessional fraternization with customers.





	Like You A Latte

**Author's Note:**

> For the Day 13 Prompt: Breaking the Rules (because there's TOTALLY a rule about not flirting with customers) a day late because of Busy Life Things. And yes, I intentionally picked the worst coffee pun I could think of for the title.

Ash Tyler does _not _like the cold. He's never liked it. He also doesn't like snow, or wind, or rain, or mud. Give him summer and sunlight any day of the week. He can't deny, however, that the colder weather makes for better business for _Blend 31, _which makes his manager happy, which in turn makes corporate happy, which means that they all get paid on time, no-one gets sent to compulsory training days, and in general, everything about his boring coffee shop job is more bearable. 

Well, almost everything. Even when he's in a good mood, their manager, Leland, is a bit of a dick, and the barista Ash works most commonly with, Philippa, seems to delight in ruining people's days. Ash is pretty sure if he looked up the definition of malicious compliance, it would just be a picture of her, grinning with that 'try me, fucker' expression, and flipping off the camera. But he has to admit, privately and absolutely nowhere she can hear him, that it's kind of funny when she covers foam art with lids that squish it into an indescribable mess or sticks the order sticker directly over the store logo on the to-go cups before handing them to girls who immediately start bemoaning the ruination of their aesthetic Instagram pictures. 

The bell on the door jangles, loud and cheerful over the boring instrumental music corporate makes them play in the background, and Ash looks up in the direction of the sound to see if it's one of the regulars whose order he already knows, and freezes, breath caught in his chest because _holy fuck. _This guy is _gorgeous. _He's tall, probably not quite as tall as Ash but close to it, and he's muscular in a way that suggests hard work, not hours in the gym for the sake of vanity. 

He's also wearing the _tiniest _running shorts that Ash has seen in his _entire life. _He's not actually sure they qualify as shorts. The t-shirt isn't much better, sweat-soaked and so tight it might as well be a second skin. 

"Hi." Says the man, who might be insane - because who is out running in weather this cold in _tiny shorts and a goddamn t-shirt _\- striding up to the counter. 

Ash is momentarily lost in captivating blue eyes, only the fact that he's been working here for eight months now, including on days when he's been exhausted, hungover, or on one memorable occasion, running a fever, and knows the script off by heart saves him. 

"Hi, what can I get for you today?" His mouth says on autopilot. Which is good, because his brain, which was _finally _starting to catch up, experiences some sort of catastrophic error when the man shoots him a smile. 

Ash gets through the rest of the transaction...somehow, and it's only after the man has paid and moved down the counter to wait for his drink that Ash mournfully realises that he's ordered his drink to go. He doesn't even get the chance to look at the hot stranger while he hangs around and drinks his coffee. 

Ash busies himself with looking productive, something he's learned to become very good at in the last few months, and pretends he isn't listening in when Philippa calls the name 'Chris' and hands the handsome stranger his coffee. 

Ash is too busy watching Chris leave the store to realise that Philippa has sidled up beside him until she jabs him sharply in the side with her elbow. 

"Ow! What the fuck?!" He hisses at her. 

"I saw you looking." She says, and there's a glint in her eyes that spells all kinds of trouble. 

"I wasn't!" Ash insists. 

Philippa raises an eyebrow at him. 

"Who cares if I was?" Ash says, defensive, "It's not like it matters. I don't even know who he is." He adds and immediately regrets it when Philippa whips out her phone and starts scrolling through facebook under the counter. "What are you doing?" He asks, a little alarmed. 

"Stalking." She answers, not looking at him, "Go restock the front fridge before more customers turn up." 

Grumbling, Ash goes. 

By the time he's back from doing that, Philippa is leaning her elbows on the counter, smirking at him. 

"What?" He asks her. He can already feel a headache coming on. 

She waggles her phone at him, still smirking. "Want to know what I found out?" 

Ash narrows his eyes at her suspiciously, considering. "Fine." He says eventually. It's not like he's going to do anything with the information, and she's going to tease him with it until he caves. 

"His name is Chris Pike, he's a lecturer on campus, and he's single." She says, and then pauses, grinning, "He's also Leland's ex." 

"He's _what?!" _Ash hisses, glancing around in case their manager suddenly appears from somewhere. It's not an unheard-of occurrence. He has a way of popping up the moment Ash thinks that he can relax and breathe, and vanishing whenever a customer demands his presence. 

Philippa grins sharply. 

Ash just sighs.

~*~

After the first day, Ash tries his hardest _not _to notice if Chris comes in to order coffee. It doesn't work, because Chris _keeps showing up _wearing those ridiculous shorts. It becomes plain after a few more days that the other thing Ash can't seem to stop himself from doing is _flirting. _ It wouldn't be so easy if Chris didn't keep flirting back. He doesn't _have _to smile at Ash the way he does, doesn't have to let his fingers brush over Ash's when he hands him money or takes back change. It's maddening. Philippa finds the whole thing hilarious. 

"Just make a move already." She growls at him while they're opening one day. 

"Nope." Ash says back, grunting with the effort of dragging the outdoor tables that no-one bothers to use in this weather out onto the sidewalk. 

"Do it or I will." Philippa threatens. 

Ash snorts. "You'd scare him off." He points out. He's seen the type of people Philippa usually goes for. 

She laughs, "The ones who're all proper are always the most fun. Ask him out, or I will." And she stalks back inside before Ash can say anything back. 

~*~

Things don't improve from there. 

Despite the increasingly cold weather, Chris is still in the store every morning in those ridiculous shorts with his ridiculous smile and ridiculous blue eyes and he's always ridiculously friendly and as time goes by he starts to actually _talk _to Ash; asks him about work and life and shares little tidbits of information about himself, and Ash finds it _unbearable _because goddamnit, he needs to just ask the guy out, but every time he thinks he's got up the nerve to do it, he realises he hasn't quite yet, or there are too many people int he store, or Leland is watching from the doorway to the back room. 

So Ash goes on, and he tells himself that today will be the day that he asks Chris out and so far it hasn't been, but that's fine, he'll get there eventually. 

And then Chris has to go and flip the script on him, appearing one Monday morning not in running shorts but in jeans and a winter jacket, moving not with his usual grace but with a slight limp, and he orders his coffee to drink in the shop instead of to go. 

"Tango stepped on me." He explains with a rueful grin when Ash asks what happened. 

Tango, Ash already knows, is one of Chris' horses, who he visits at the weekend when he isn't teaching. 

Chris settles into a seat by the window, a pile of what Ash suspects are student papers in front of him, and drinks his coffee. Ash settles into the routine of the shift, tries not to look over at him too often lest he go completely mad. 

"Can I just put this here?" Asks a voice and Ash does look up, pulled from his normal act of looking busy. Chris is holding out his empty cup. That in itself is not unusual, lots of customers bring their empty cups back up to the counter, but the napkin poking out from under the cup is what catches Ash's eye. There's a line of numbers written across it in bright red pen, and underneath, a single word. 

_Date? _

Ash's eyes go wide, and he looks up to Chris, who is looking anxious and expectant and like he's about to run, but whose face breaks into a smile when Ash nods silently. 

"Yes." He finally manages, "Yes, I'd like that."

~*~

When Ash gets into work the next day, there's a note taped to the inside of the door to the staff bathroom reminding employees about refraining from unprofessional fraternization with customers. Philippa's laughter when she ducks out from her break drifts all the way back to Ash at the counter, and when she returns, she smirks at him. Ash flicks a to-go lid at her head when no-one's looking, and she ducks it without looking in his direction. Un-fucking-fair. 

**Author's Note:**

> Want to know more about Trektober? Click [HERE](https://aishahiwatari.tumblr.com/post/188059640163/trektober) for the info post on Aisha's tumblr, or [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Trektober2019) for the AO3 collection to read our fic. 
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr](https://demerite.tumblr.com/)!


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